Over the past few decades, there have been remarkable improvements in heath states or indicators in many countries in terms of infant and maternal mortality rates and other health indicators also. Despite these general and overall improvements, there remain substantial inequalities and disparities between the countries, regions, socioeconomic groups, and also individuals. For example, many African countries are bearing burden of HIV/AIDS, and countries of former Soviet Union are also facing high mortality rates (Leon and Walt 2001). Even in rich countries as the UK, there are evidences that health disparities are widening over the past few decades (Povall et al. 2013). Alongside the intrinsic importance of health as a dimension of welfare, poor health can directly influence an individual’s opportunities – his earning capacity, educational attainments, ability to care for children, participation in community activities, and so on. This important instrumental function of health implies...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
References
Balarajan Y, Selvaraj S, Subramanian SV (2011) Health care and equity in India. Lancet 377(9764):505–515
Braveman P (2014a) What is health equity: and how does a life-course approach take us further toward it? Matern Child Health J 18(2):366–372
Braveman P (2014b) What are health disparities and health equity? We need to be clear. Public Health Rep 129(1_Suppl2):5–8. https://doi.org/10.1177/00333549141291S203
Braveman P, Gruskin S (2003) Defining equity in health. J Epidemiol Community Health 57(4):254–258. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.57.4.254
Eide ER, Showalter MH (2011) Estimating the relation between health and education: what do we know and what do we need to know? Econ Educ Rev 30(5): 778–791. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ECONEDUREV.2011.03.009
Ekmekci P, Arda B (2015) Enhancing John Rawls’s theory of justice to cover health and social determinants of health. Acta Bioethica 21(2):227. https://doi.org/10.4067/S1726-569X2015000200009
Haines A (2017) Health co-benefits of climate action. Lancet Planet Health 1(1):e4–e5. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(17)30003-7
Heiman HJ, Artiga S (2015) Beyond health care: the role of social determinants in promoting health and health equity. Health 20(10):1–10
Hosseinpoor AR, Bergen N, Schlotheuber A (2015) Promoting health equity: WHO health inequality monitoring at global and national levels. Glob Health Action 8(1):29034. https://doi.org/10.3402/gha.v8.29034
Irwin LG, Siddiqi A, Hertzman G (2007) Early child development: a powerful equalizer. Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP), Vancouver
Kawachi I, Daniels N, Robinson DE (2005) Health disparities by race and class: why both matter. Health Aff 24(2):343–352. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.24.2.343
Leon DA, Walt G (2001) Poverty, inequality, and health: an international perspective. Oxford University Press
Markandya A, Wilkinson P (2007) Electricity generation and health. Lancet 370(9591):979–990
Marmot M, Bell R (2018) The sustainable development goals and health equity. Epidemiology 29(1):5–7. https://doi.org/10.1097/EDE.0000000000000773
Marmot M, Friel S, Bell R, Houweling TA, Taylor S, Commission on Social Determinants of Health (2008) Closing the gap in a generation: health equity through action on the social determinants of health. Lancet 372(9650):1661–1669
Mullany LC, Richards AK, Lee CI, Suwanvanichkij V, Maung C, Mahn M, ... Lee TJ (2007) Population-based survey methods to quantify associations between human rights violations and health outcomes among internally displaced persons in eastern Burma. J Epidemiol Community Health 61(10):908–914. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.2006.055087
Northridge ME, Freeman L (2011) Urban planning and health equity. J Urban Health 88(3):582–597. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-011-9558-5
Nunes AR, Lee K, O’Riordan T (2016) The importance of an integrating framework for achieving the sustainable development goals: the example of health and well-being. BMJ Glob Health 1(3):e000068. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2016-000068
Popay J, Escorel S, Hernández M, Johnston H, Mathieson J, Rispel L (2008) SEKN final report understanding and tackling social exclusion final report to the WHO commission on social determinants of health from the social exclusion knowledge network on behalf of the WHO social exclusion knowledge network. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/social_determinants/knowledge_networks/final_reports/sekn_final_report_042008.pdf?ua=1
Pottie K (2015) Health equity in humanitarian emergencies: a role for evidence aid. J Evid Based Med 8(1):36–38. https://doi.org/10.1111/jebm.12137
Povall SL, Haigh FA, Abrahams D, Scott-Samuel A (2013) Health equity impact assessment. Health Promot Int 29(4):621–633. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/dat012
Say L, Chou D, Gemmill A, Tunçalp Ö, Moller AB, Daniels J, ... Alkema L (2014). Global causes of maternal death: a WHO systematic analysis. Lancet Glob Health 2(6):e323–e333. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(14)70227-X
Sen A (2002) Why health equity? Health Econ 11(8):659–666. https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.762
Tangcharoensathien V, Mills A, Palu T (2015) Accelerating health equity: the key role of universal health coverage in the sustainable development goals. BMC Med 13(1):101. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-015-0342-3
Wirth ME, Wirth E, Delamonica E, Sacks D, Balk A, Minujin A (2006) Monitoring health equity in the MDGs: a practical guide. CIESIN/UNICEF, New York
World Bank Staff (2005) World development report 2006: equity and development. Oxford University Press, New York
World Health Organization (2008) Closing the gap in a generation: health equity through action on the social determinants of health: Commission on Social Determinants of Health Final Report. World Health Organization, Geneva, p 33
World Health Organization (2010) A conceptual framework for action on the social determinants of health. World Health Organization, Geneva
World Health Organization (2015a) Health in 2015: from MDGs, millennium development goals to SDGs, sustainable development goals. World Health Organization, Geneva
World Health Organization (2015b) State of inequality: reproductive maternal newborn and child health: interactive visualization of health data. World Health Organization, Geneva
World Health Organization (2017) SDGs and progress towards universal health coverage. (No. SEA/RC70/12). World Health Organization. Regional Office for South-East Asia, New Delhi
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Dhaliwal, L.K. (2019). Health Equity and Sustainable Development Goals: Role and the Complexity. In: Leal Filho, W., Wall, T., Azeiteiro, U., Azul, A., Brandli, L., Özuyar, P. (eds) Good Health and Well-Being. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69627-0_66-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69627-0_66-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-69627-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-69627-0
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Earth and Environm. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences